A Tale of Government Greed That Could Shape November Elections

The debates go on; is the recession Bush’s fault or Obama’s? More stimulus or less? Repeal Bush Tax cuts or keep them?

All this makes great fodder for talk shows and columnists everywhere, but it doesn’t really make the case for a fiscal conservative revolution in November.

Sure, pundits like me believe that the democrats are losing the economic argument and more significantly, there is nothing coming down the pipe in the next two months to change things; other than change for the worse.

But what about those 40% of Americans who still approve of Obama’s economic policies; don’t they need to learn the truth before anything can change?

It’s Time to Spread the Truth

One of my regular readers has suggested that I create a guide to advise like minded conservatives on “what they can do” to help assure a good outcome in November. That piece should he out this week, but I’ll give you a sneak preview: The most important thing you can do is to personally convert independents and marginal democrats who believe what they believe because they’re never learned the truth.

The Obscene Truth about Government Employment

Over the past two weeks, two stories have hit my desk that make me see red. Before the liberals start blaming Bush, let me say that W had a hand in this obscenity, perhaps 20% of the blame, but this tale of government greed is truly what Obama’s all about.

Last week the New York Post published the report I’ve been searching for for months. This is the first time I’ve seen unemployment data broken into the two key buckets: Public Sector and Private Sector. Want to know who won?

The envelope please…

From January 2008 to January 2010, private-sector jobs plunged from 115.5 million to 106.8 million. But the number of federal, state and local public employees climbed up a tick, from 22.3 million to 22.4 million, as economist Veronique de Rugy recently noted. In other words, some 8.7 million private-sector jobs vanished, while the public sector gained 100,000 jobs.

How’s that for obscenity? 8.7 million private sector jobs gone, while the government added 100,000 jobs! I was telling some friends from California about this report and the they said “but we know of school teachers who have been laid off.” That’s true. In fact, when you look at the government as a whole, there’s been quite a bit of “change.” Young teachers, cops, and firefighters are being cut to protect the fat salaries, benefits, and pensions of older government (union) workers. This is just the opposite of what happens in the private sector where high priced workers are cut first because it saves more money!

But wait, there’s more (obscenity). The NYP also reported this tidbit:

Private-sector jobs began to fall almost immediately after the onset of the recession in December 2007. But state and local jobs remained steady, at least until last month, when states finally started laying off their workers, too. As for federal employment, as of July, it was nearly 10 percent higher than back then.

Can you believe what you just read? The private sector lost 8.7 million jobs, teachers, cops, and firefighters are getting laid off, but there is one employer that has jacked up his payroll by 10% — Barrack Obama’s federal government.

If you polled the American people and asked them which jobs do they want to grow the most, they would undoubtedly say:

But that is exactly the “change” that Obama and the democrats have brought to America.

The facts inside this story make the unequivocal case that the Stimulus did absolutely nothing positive for the private sector; and since the cost will fall on small businesses and the wealthy who are the only ones who invest in creating new private sector jobs, the private sector is the one who will be left to pick up the tab for this government greed.

Want some more change to believe in — believe this! In early August, USA Today reported:

Federal civil servants earned average pay and benefits of $123,049 in 2009 while private workers made $61,051 in total compensation, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

Isn’t that special? Not only have Obama and the democrats added 10% more federal bureaucrats to the taxpayer’s burden in the middle of the recession, but they’ve also given “their own” a big fat raise! Hey, it’s easy to be generous when the private sector is picking up the bill. And why not? Obama and the democrats know that government unions workers give 92% of their political donations to democrats.

If you find these two stories as outrageous as I do, go out and find an under-informed independent or marginal democrat who works in the private sector and sit them down and walk them through these facts. These facts don’t lie.

The only change we’ve gotten from Obama and the democrats is “chump change,” as they laugh all the way to the bank at our expense.